Hold back the river
by LadyPalma
Summary: [Cruella x Ursula] What if Ursula and Cruella reunited without Rumple's intervention? And what if there always had been more than just a sort of friendship between them? My own take of the mideseason finale. Based on the song "Hold back the river" by James Bay.


**Hold back the river**

* * *

**_Tried to keep you close to me,_**

**_But life got in between_**

**_Tried to square not being there,_**

**_But think that I should have been_**

_An almost empty bottle of gin, an ashtray full of cigarette butts and the background music of a dance song: that was the background of the two women's last meeting. It wasn't a much crowded pub actually – and that was a bit worrisome being in New York – but the fact that it was almost dawn could count as an excuse._

"_So, are you really going away?"_

_The question arrived bluntly, but it took all night to Ursula to say it aloud. And in the end, those words came out in a strange stone, a tone that mixed uncertainty, irony, but also a sort of unconsciuos fear. She would have probably never admitted it even to herself, but the company of the other woman had been important during those weeks to familiarize with that unknown world, and she didn't know now if she was ready to be left alone in it._

"_Of course"_

_Cruella instead didn't hesitate a moment before answering and her voice only had the sound of determination. She was slightly drunk and more desperate than she had ever felt since they had left the Enchanted Forrest, but she seemed to perfectly know what she wanted. And what she wanted wasn't a trump-like life, without being under the spot light. Cruella really was an "animal party"._

_Not adding anything further, she squeezed in her inseparabile fur and slowly stood up, placing a bill on the counter. A simple, quick glance was all that she gave to the sea witch as a goodbye, before starting to head – a bit stumbling – to the exit._

_There hadn't been a proper goodbye, no nice words, no ironic wisecracks, nothing of nothing. They were losing each other as if they had never found each other, as two perfect strangers, but what they were after all? Nothing._

_And yet, once out of the pub, a tear escaped Ms De Vil's eyes._

_It just took a breath of freedom to understand that she was really alone in the big chaotic world._

_And in that big chaotic world she would have missed Ursula._

* * *

**_Hold Back the River, let me look in your eyes_**

**_Hold Back the River so I_**

**_Can stop for a minute and be by your side _**

**_Hold Back the River, hold back_**

Her fur and her Panther De Ville: here's the short inventory of all that Cruella had left. She had tried to build a life, she had got married – of course not out of love – and she had tried so hard to be that rich and powerful woman she had always dreamt to be; but things went bad even before that his husband ended up in jail and she was stripped of any possession, things went bad because she had never felt happy.

She had promised herself that she would have never gone back to where she had started, but now, instead, she felt like all that she desired was to come back to the start. She spent almost all the last money she had left for filling up the gas tank and buying a bottle of gin, and then straight on to New York; she had nothing left anymore, but maybe all that she truly owned was lost since that night of thirty years before.

_Ursula_.

That's what she wanted now, that's all that she could think about. Who knew how was her life now? Who knew if she had found her happy ending? Who knew if she had fund someone to love? A butter chuckle got her at that thought and she was forced to take a sip of gin while she had still a hand on the wheel. Egoistically she preferred to imagine her former ally even more miserable than she herself was, and that just because that way there could have been a better chance to take a place in her life again.

She needed Ursula now, because the only real moment in her life when she hadn't felt alone was during their sort of friendship, because coded messages on postcards and rare phone calls in the time frame of _thirty years_ couldn't been enough.

Maybe it was too late, but she needed to look her in the eyes and be on her side.

* * *

**_Hold Back the River, let me look in your eyes _**

**_Hold Back the River so I_**

**_Can stop for a minute and see where you hide_**

**_Hold Back the River, hold back_**

She hadn't slept all night and that was making her more irritable than usual. And then, there had been the rain, only companion during the waiting for that damned aquarium to open. It would have been difficult to find the place the woman lived, since Ursula, against every expectations, wasn't such a unusual name in that world; but instead paying her a visit in the place where she worked proved to be a sure hit. With the bottle of gin and something eatable taken at the fast food on the road, she succeeded to survive until ten o' clock, and just when the door opened – as a sign that the entrance for the visitors was allowed – she jumped out of the car and in a matter of a few seconds she found herself inside the place.

"Good morning, madame! A ticket?"

Cruella, already in her way, stopped hearing that question and turned a bit the head, just enough to throw a fearful glance to the man who had dared to bother her.

"I don't want any stupid ticket…" she answered, unable to hold her irritation, that the waiting and the impatience were stressing. "I am here to see a person… I'm looking for Ursula"

"And you are…?"

"Cruella Feinberg" she answered authomatically, but just when she pronounced that name a dismayed smirk appeared on her face. "No. I'm Cruella De Vil" she added in fact just some istants later, almost with a hint of pride to deny the only inheritance of that sluggard of her husbad.

"Okay, Ms De Vil" the man said a bit uncertain, but trying to hide it behind a cordial smile "Ursula is working now… You can wait her here and when she takes a break then-"

Cruella raised a red-gloved hand in the air and the annoyed sigh that escaped her lips was enough to shut the man up – at least for the moment.

"I've waited long enough. I need to see Ursula now!" she exclaimed with a peremptory tone, starting again to walk toward the inside of the aquarium.

"Madame, wait! No one can enter without a ticket!"

A bill almost flied on the counter and that was the final sign that ended any objection.

It was the last bill she had and she was spending it well, in her opinion.

"I have a ticket now. And I want to see where Ursula's been hiding."

* * *

**_Lonely water, lonely water won't you let us wander?_**

**_Let us hold each other_**

**_Lonely water, lonely water won't you let us wander? _**

**_Let us hold each other_**

"You are already at work… Do you regret not being under the sea anymore, don't you?"

She had passed only a few tanks before she finally met the sea witch. With working clothes, hair carelessly tied and a tired expression on the face, Ursula looked very different, and yet when she looked up and green found black, all was exactly as Cruella remembered. That was the reason why in the end, coming more closer with a half smile on the lips, all that came out of her mouth was that vaguely provocative question.

"Yes, because I'm not a kept person like you"

But Ursula knew how to answer well and that answer had actually been evil.

Nevertheless, that promising quarrel ended with that sentence; any absurd pride Cruella had in her, instantly vanished and a hinted bitter smile crossed her lips. She was feeling again the same lonely and desperate woman, she was feeling again fragile, but if she was used to have those feelings, she wasn't used to show them to other people – especially Ursula.

"My husband is in prison… And I have lost everything" she whispered eventually, with sudden honesty.

Ursula was taken by surprise and at that admission finally decided to focus all her attention on the woman in front of her. She remained silence for a while, just watching her and without hinting to move: diffidence and resentment were still there.

"You still have your fur, I see" she finally said with new irony, but this time without any malice.

The other woman slowly nodded and made a forced laugh, that didn't reach her eyes though. "Yes, I still have the fur"

And then silence fell between them again, a confused, uncertain, embarassed silence, a silence that Cruella wasn't willing to bear and that naively she hadn't considered. But what had she expected? A warm welcome back and the reset of everything that happened in the meantime? Maybe yes, maybe that was exactly what she had expected.

She gave a look around and she let herself be taken by the image of the fishes that were swimming around them. They were apparently free but actually imprisoned by that almost artificial water – and those walls of water were imprisoning the two women as well. She was feeling trapped, she felt like air was missing at that thought. But what could have she done to escape the impasse of that conversation? What could have she said in that situation?

Only then, tears started to suddenly fall from her eyes one after the other, and before she could realize it they turned into sobs impossibile to hold back. She had never really cried in her whole life, she had always thought that she was able to do that and she had always been ashamed of that anyway. But if she had known the effect of that sincere cry, she would have probably done it long before.

In fact, Cruella soon felt Ursula's arms around her body and she didn't hesitate a second before returning that unexpected hug. Somehow, still one in the arms of the other, their lips connected and it was as if they both finally understood the real nature of the strong secret attraction that had always liked them; it was like the water of those walls was freeing them now.

The only one remained captive in that moment was a man who was watching not very far away the scene. And he seemed more sorrowful than surprised about it. Rumplestiltskin had arrived too late this time, and for once things hadn't gone according to his plans; he would have needed other allies for his plan in the search of _happy ending for the villains_.

Because Ursula and Cruella – in spite of the category they both belonged to – seemed to have already found theirs.

* * *

**Author: Hi everyone! I've fallen in love with this pairing and I really _needed_ to write something about it. I don't usually write femslash, but SeaDevil is my wonderful exception! **

**I really would like to know what you think about it, and also if you have some prompts for them - or for Cruella in any pairing - let me know! :)**


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